


flock

by Sawadoot



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, M/M, Tobio centric, baby's first hq fic lmao, implied romantic tension if u squint, soft angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-21 13:32:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17044646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sawadoot/pseuds/Sawadoot
Summary: Kageyama’s left shoulder has a small crow mark.





	flock

Kageyama’s left shoulder has a small crow mark. It's been there since he was old enough to know what exactly a crow was. He still doesn't know what it means but at fifteen its become just as much a part of him as his fingertips, so Tobio doesn't exactly mind it much. He's long since given up at guessing what its purpose is, maybe just a birthmark. But his Mother said it hadn't been there when he was born.

 

Now the crow is long since settled, soft brown mark in his shoulder, almost comforting to see. And Mother is the one long since gone. It's funny how life works that way. Tobio doesn't think too deeply about it. After all, volleyball is his primary concern. Some nights he considers not going home, heart sinking every time he realizes that instinctively he's walking up the carefully laid stone pathway to his front door. But making things worse could affect volleyball. And that's not something Kageyama can afford to lose.

 

He doesn't dream when he naps, only falls. And that's okay because when he wakes up, Tobio catches himself, and then he eats a well-deserved snack. There's a whole box of granola bars inside his bag for food emergencies and the nights he honestly doesn't go home. That is to say the late-night clerk at the convenience store down the street knows his face pretty well by now.

 

Late fall rolls around first-year and sweaters become his closest friends. Nothing beats the comfort of a bright red long-sleeve, soft and not itchy in the least. How Nishinoya can run around in shorts and t-shirts still is an act of god.

 

Which leads him back to his current thoughts. Are there dogs in heaven? Tobio thinks if any there would be labs and golden retrievers for sure. He's getting better at approaching them, some still rise on their haunches but frequently less. There have got to be dogs in heaven it would make no sense otherwise.

 

“Geez, Kageyama, you're sure thinking hard huh.” He blinks to see Hinata stooping over his desk, elbows up and chin resting on his hands with a smug grin. Tobio shoves his elbows away, and Hinata goes down like deadweight yelping as his jaw nearly hits the desk. “What's got you so prickly? More than usual. Hey, do you have any snacks on you I'm hungry.”

 

“Is that why you came to nag me, you idiot.” Tobio snaps, a well-meaning glare freezing Hinata in his tracks, hand still inside Kageyama's bag for reserve granola bars he knows are kept in there because sometimes it seems like those are all his partner ever eats.

 

“Partly,” Hinata confessed ripping the wrapper off and shoving half the thing inside his mouth before Tobio can protest. “Wanted to know if you wanna practice on Sunday, ‘cause I don't have to babysit my little sister, and I'm gonna be bored.”

 

That floors Tobio. He's never been over to anyone's house aside from, ugh, Oikawa's but he tries very hard not to think about that bit. Hinata coughs, choking a little at the end and reminding him that oh yeah the rational thing to do is respond and shit. “I guess.” Thank god in some ways. “I wouldn't mind.” He shrugs, and Hinata looks like swallowed a star. It's terrifying the way he leans over the desk and clasps his hands with a much too loud, “alright!”

 

“Calm down you dumbass. It's just tossing.”

 

“Yeah but I haven't had someone over in _ages!_ So I'm allowed to be especially excited you loser.”

 

“What did you just call me!?” In the end, they knock over the entire desk. They both spend the remainder of their classes in the office sulking at one another. Tobio is going to trip him the first chance he gets.

 

* * *

 

Tobio owned a pet goldfish. Once, only once. Its name was Chomp, and he never did find out if it was a boy or a girl, but in the end, things like that don't matter do they. She was orange like most fish her type but partly yellow. Now he wonders if even crows can turn orange and yellow. Probably not. But it's a pretty thought nonetheless.

 

And he doesn't know social cues very well. Tobio only knows the ins and outs of a colorful cloth ball that ignites something inside his usually gray self. It's not like he chose to see gray outside of everything averting to the court.

 

Which is why he's never been asked his opinion on many things outside of Volleyball. Or formal get-to-know-you questions such as ‘What's your favorite food?’ Egg over rice. No, Tobio is at a loss for what to do in situations like this. Yamaguchi is clinging at his shoulders and pulling him this way and that, Noya attempting to dance around the blockade that is Tobio's great height and poking fun at Yamaguchi's red face. Tobio is sure that he looks about as confused as he feels and the uncertainty is pissing him off.

 

“What are you? A koala? Geez, let go, idiot!” Unfortunately, even with the amount of wiggling and shrugging that Tobio is doing somehow Yamaguchi still manages to cling tighter like a leech. His face redder if that were even possible.

 

“Kageyama can't save you from how you reaaally feel!” Noya snarks throwing his whole body weight into Tobio and jostling them roughly backward. Yamaguchi yelped, stepping on his heel while Noya unintentionally gagged him with the collar of his jacket. Jesus Christ, that's fucking it!

 

“Hey, if you don't let me go right now I'm gonna do it myself _by force.”_ Noya blinked, and so did Yamaguchi. And then Noya _yanked_ him by the collar one more time for good measure. He ends up sprawled on his back a good foot away and staring up at the ceiling in a confused daze. “Huh,” Yamaguchi opted to cling tighter making himself nearly impossible to remove and Tanaka laughing obnoxiously at their life or death struggle. Yamaguchi’s hands are scrabbling blindly to keep root, and Tobio is going ballistic.

 

“Oh, uh,” What has Asahi just walked into… a murder.

 

“Get this thing off me!” At Tobio's holler in comes Daichi, slack-jawed and helpless to grasp the situation watching the two buck around like some bull-ride. It ended when Yamaguchi toppled onto Noya's lifeless body like an impromptu dog pile. The worst stacked in all of dogpiling history. Tobio lays sprawled a couple of feet away, eyes panicked.

 

“So can we practice now?” Tsukiyama looks at his nails disinterestedly, side-eyeing their three-ring circus with a smug look. A volleyball slams into Kei's side. “Kageyama!” Suga shouts, scandalized.

 

“Oh,” Yamaguchi sat up straight, or a little bit crooked, and only when he rummaged around for a crumpled tissue and pressed it to Tobio's forehead does he realize there's blood trickling between his eyes and that he's drained. If anything he pulled himself out of bed for volleyball so it would be a waste of time to sit this practice out. His eyelids sag.

 

“Hey, what happened to Kageyama?” Hinata arrives fashionably late this time an odd change from his prompt self. Usually, he's here even before Daichi. What an odd time to walk in to see Suga coddling worried over a bloody Kageyama who's trying to swat away the hand holding a tissue to his face and Noya looks like he's dead. Ennoshita is tickling his cheek just to be sure the guy is still breathing.

 

It looks like they were having fun all by themselves! “What did I miss?!” Kageyama is glaring, but Shoyo isn't one to be fazed.

 

“ ‘s nothing. Let's hurry up and start practicing.” Tsukiyama snorts, but the wild gleam in Kageyama's eyes has him on his toes, ready for the volleyball god to come barreling over him. “Oh, leave it alone!” Kageyama nearly snaps at the blocker, tossing his crumpled, bloody napkin into the trash bin near the far corner and stalking over to his place on the court. One expectant look over his shoulder has the others following after and starting warm-ups.

 

Practice goes on with minor incidents after that. A couple smacks to the head, and one toss that had Noya sprawling himself out across the court is the only things that come to mind as inconvenient.

* * *

 

Karasuno. Tobio couldn't get into the school of his choice if he tried and, frankly, he doesn't work very hard at it. Not after the _tap-tap_ of a ball rolling across the empty court pervaded his nightmares, and wiggled its way into the silent spaces in his mind.

 

And it just seems fitting and all, crow birthmark. Tobio doesn't believe in fate or destiny or any of that mumbo-jumbo shit, just volleyball. And the thrum of energy and excitement and _pure joy_ that associates with the sport and playing as a team, knowing they won't ditch him on the court leaving him to trip over the imaginary robes pushed onto him.

 

And Hinata is so loud, very obnoxiously loud, that he overlaps those silent pauses where Tobio hasn't much to think on, and he's standing in front of a net that's empty of everyone behind him.

 

At first, it's irritating. Everytime Hinata bounds up with a loud _“GWAHHHHH!”_ or some shout, or even just picking on Tobio the tiniest little teensy-weensy bit; there's almost always an immediate hand crushing Hinata's head forcing him to cry uncle and stomp on Tobio's feet until they're both sporting bruises.

 

Gradually Tobio gets used to his Hinata-ness, the incredible dumbass that he is, (if asked Tobio would absolutely say he's the smarter of them both although Hinata would say the opposite and they'd just end up rolling head-over-heels again until Daichi pries them apart,) All of his loudness is just how he plays and lives.

 

And he's _always hungry_ they squabble over lunch when they gradually decide to sit together, and Hinata eats half his lunch by snatching pieces out of Tobio's meal when he's concentrated on chewing. He even seizes sacrificial snack offerings that were given to Tobio for reasons not even he, the recipient, knows of. The only clue being they'd called his sleepy face cute because it isn't all scrunched up and whatever, his face isn't always mean, he just has a resting bitch face! It's still like that!

 

It's one day when they're sitting side-by-side at lunch, and it's early fall, so it's still fucking _hot._   Hinata nudging their shoulders is too much that Tobio scoots over a good seat, and Hinata grabs his sleeve, tugging, shouting not to be so rude when the strained collar lifts and Tobio is belatedly aware now that the crow is gone. It's not there on his shoulder in a dull brown. It isn't splotchy; the skin is bare.

 

It shouldn't bother him, not really, but Tobio panics anyhow, shoving Hinata off himself and scrambling away to the nearest bathroom.

 

Wasting no time he yanks down both sleeves to be sure, and seeing bare shoulders, loses his shit and he's panicked, and he doesn't know why maybe it's something to do with the fact he's had it since discovering volleyball. Now it's just suddenly gone, he's not superstitious, but is that a sign he isn't good enough to keep on playing? God, what the fuck!

 

“Why do you have your shirt past your shoulders?! What are you freaking out about?!” Hinata followed him of course. He would because he's an idiot but Tobio is too overwhelmed by this tiny crow than to breathe. He just continues searching the skin across his shoulders, searching and searching for nothing. There's nothing.

 

The crow is gone for good like it never existed in the first place. Maybe it didn't?

 

Mid-panic he feels himself spun around, stumbling backward into the counter as Hinata grabs his hands and squeezes them tightly. “Take deep breaths like ‘one, two, humpfh. One, two, whooosh,’ c'mon do it with me.”

 

“That's not how it sounds at all,” Tobio croaks but does as he's told until the adrenaline wears out and Hinata is gently pulling his sleeves back over his shoulders, smoothing them down. He _doesn't lean into Hinata's touch even the littlest bit, yeah._ And then he's reaching up as tall as he can on his tippy toes and ruffling inky black hair from Tobio's slightly stooped position.

 

“Feeling better?” Tobio grunts, shrugging. Yes, he does, but he's still worried about that crow.

 

“Cool so then what was that all about? Not that I didn't like eating two lunches!” Hinata smiles sunnily at his head on glare. He probably did eat all the lunch.

 

“It's nothing important,” Hands jerk his face down until they're almost nose to nose. “You're lying.” Hinata frowns as if they aren't just inches away and Tobio's face doesn't feel like it's roasting. “If it was nothing you wouldn't have ran all ‘AHHHH’ away, and you left your bag and lunch, and everything so don't be like,” Hinata drops his pitch, imitating Kageyama. “It's nothing, idiot.”

 

Tobio smacks him across the head, and Hinata lets go. “I don't sound like that!”

 

“Yeah, you do!”

 

“No, I don't!”

 

“You do!”

 

“Idiot!”

 

“Jackass!”

 

“Your mom,” Kageyama grumbles, trying in vain to smooth his shirt down when Hinata is gripping at his collar and shrieking scandalized about insulting his mother. Tobio’s head spins from the number of times he's shaken.

 

“Okay, but seriously,” Shoyo drops his collar, taking a step back to gauge Tobio’s reaction as he stands there looking dumbstruck, one side of his hair ruffled rather than its usual sleek and neatly brushed appearance. It’s kinda cute. But only kind of in Hinata’s opinion because even if Kageyama is a little, tiny bit pretty his personality is still awful. Yeah, and his smiles are scary! And he sucks even worse at math, so there! Anyway, “Why were you doing that?”

 

Tobio attempts to play dumb, but it really won’t work when Hinata has already witnessed the mass destruction that is a confused and panicked Kageyama Tobio. “Doing what?”

 

Hinata rolls his eyes dramatically. “Okay, so you just go around staring into mirrors like a weirdo and pulling your clothes off?”

 

“No- yes- wait,” Hinata’s got him there. Of course, he does because he’s a little worm. You can tell by his shit-eating grin that he knows it too. “It’s fucking weird okay, I’m going.” Tobio tries bodily shoving Hinata out of the way when he blocks the doorway, but he’s clinging to the doorframe like it’s his only lifeline, and no amount of pushing or pulling or swearing will get him to move because he’s so stupidly stubborn.

 

“What the fuck,” Tobio says against pushing Hinata through the door and watching his heels dig in. This is getting nowhere but how the fuck do you explain a birthmark that comes and goes? “Tell me you, big dummy! Hardass!” Hinata flails his arms intent on successfully warding him off; it works only halfway. What’s so hard about letting him in a bit?

 

“What part of ‘no’ isn’t processing you fucking dumbass!? Maybe I just don’t want to tell you! It’s none of your business!” They’re palm to palm now, wrestling for control when Hinata hollers at the top of his lungs, “You never want to tell me anything! I’m just worried about you, what’s so wrong with that huh?! Aren’t we friends, or did you not want to tell me that too!”

 

Tobio’s brain short circuits a reboot, and he’s shoved back into the sink by an angry looking gremlin. A gremlin who cares? “We’re friends?” They’d never said anything of the sort to one another so he’d just assumed they’re partners with a mutual quick and he’d take what he could get because Tobio doesn’t have friends not like he doesn’t want them, but they don’t happen. Friendships don’t happen. Hinata looks at him like he’s grown another head. “Uh, yeah? What did you think I was your rival or something because that, I mean I’ll be the best rival ever!” Tobio waves his hands before his friend, what a cool discovery, can blow things out of proportion.

 

“No, I just…” Hinata’s eyes widen, and there’s nothing left to say because he knows about what happened in Middle School and an understanding light seems to radiate from over his head as he nods to himself. “We’re friends, you dummy!”

 

Tobio snaps at him, “I’m not the idiot, you are!” And just like that, they’re at it again all head over heels in a brawl that leaves their arms sore around practice time, but Shoyo thinks that Kageyama seems more lively then, less gloomy. And he can’t help but be proud that was all _his_ doing. Shoyo never does remember to ask what the bathroom fiasco was all about for a third time, but since it doesn’t happen again, there’s not much of a chance that the topic will come up again.

 

* * *

 

The crow never does show back up on his shoulder. Tobio checks it for three weeks before finally resolving that it isn’t going to come back. He isn’t superstitious in the least, but there’s a feeling the crow was looking after him for a little while, and now that he’s found a place in a whole murder of them it’s flown off to protect another.

 

It’s silly, the whole thing is ridiculous when he asks his Mom about it, and she hasn’t got a clue what to say about it. Somewhat surprised he’d shared something with her over the dinner table.

 

But Tobio supposes it’s something more natural to accept, and thinking about it when he could be thinking about Volleyball isn’t worth the time. Practice, lunchtime with Hinata, pouring over math homework he never gets decent grades on, and avoiding the oddly warm feeling his chest that could be love, but it doesn’t feel like Volleyball love, those eventually become the priority.

 

And he forgets the little brown splotchy crow birthmark.

 

Tobio found his flock.

**Author's Note:**

> i've never written for haikyuu yeah but god told me to do it bitch it'll be fun so uh yeah. i might delete it later if i decide i dont like it but yeah i'm anxious abt this and i wanna work on characterization better
> 
> peace out
> 
> edit: I just realized the part about his mother could be misinterpreted. his parents are divorced. so his mother isn't dead but he doesn't live with her so he doesn't see her often oof


End file.
